Nacogdoches, TX

Apr 28, 2009

Catalpa tree in full bloom at the
Sterne-Hoya house

Lunch

Local promotional literature describes Nacogdoches as "the oldest town in Texas. Evidence of settlement on the same site dates back to 10,000 years ago. Colonel Antonio Gil Y'Barbo, a prominent Spanish trader, emerged as the leader of the settlers, and in the spring of 1779, he led a group back to Nacogdoches. Later that summer, Nacogdoches received designation from Mexico as a pueblo, or town, thereby making it the first "town" in Texas. Y'Barbo, as lieutenant governor of the new town, established the rules and laws for local government. He laid out streets with the intersecting El Camino Real (now State Highway 21) and La Calle del Norte/North Street (now U.S. Highway 259) as the central point. On the main thoroughfare, he built a stone house for use in his trading business. The house, or Old Stone Fort as it is known today, became a gateway from the United States to the vast Texas frontier.

We toured the Old Stone Fort Museum, the Sterne-Hoya House and drove around on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.